Transcript

Credlin | 22 January · Credlin

0:02
Speaker 1: Kranland live on Sky News Australia.
0:08
Speaker 2: Good evening, Welcome to the program. Here's what's coming up
0:10
Speaker 2: tonight on Fredline. Well a shocking twenty four hours for
0:14
Speaker 2: what once was the coalition now once again split again
0:18
Speaker 2: second time here under Susan Lee's leadership. I'll walk through
0:22
Speaker 2: what's been happening behind the scenes in both the National
0:26
Speaker 2: and Liberal party ranks and where to next. We'll also
0:30
Speaker 2: cross live of course to the Sydney Opera House ahead
0:32
Speaker 2: of a very special event tonight to one of the
0:35
Speaker 2: Bondai victims. Despite the fact that even on today's National
0:38
Speaker 2: Day of Mourning, a monument in Melbourne has been vandalized
0:42
Speaker 2: with Hummas symbols. Plus, they're on the front line helping
0:46
Speaker 2: save communities from summer fires, but they're underfunded and left
0:50
Speaker 2: to battle for their lives with failing equipment. Victoria's CFA
0:54
Speaker 2: volunteers are fed up with a political spin. I'll speak
0:57
Speaker 2: to veteran who's got a pretty direct mege for the
1:00
Speaker 2: premier tonight's show, And of course we won't just look
1:03
Speaker 2: at the future of the National and Liberal parties, but
1:06
Speaker 2: also Susan Lee's leadership, which is now all but terminal.
1:11
Speaker 3: We cannot be part Our party room has made it
1:13
Speaker 3: very clear we cannot be part of a shadow ministry
1:16
Speaker 3: under Susan Lee.
1:20
Speaker 2: We will stay with this issue because although today was
1:22
Speaker 2: supposed to be the day focused on mourning the victims
1:25
Speaker 2: of the Bondai massacre, and I mean no disrespect for
1:29
Speaker 2: the dead whom we grieve tonight, but sadly politics has
1:33
Speaker 2: intruded on this day of mourning given the monumental political
1:37
Speaker 2: and amptitude of the federal opposition. As I explained last night,
1:42
Speaker 2: the Liberals here are in the wrong. The Nationals well,
1:47
Speaker 2: they are on the right side of the rules and
1:50
Speaker 2: well established precedent, and it's exposed yet another case of
1:54
Speaker 2: poor judgment by Liberal leader Susan Lee, so much so
1:58
Speaker 2: that the coalition has again ruptured on her watch, making
2:01
Speaker 2: both parties unelectable as long as they remain separate, and
2:05
Speaker 2: making her leadership, as I said, all but terminal. He
2:10
Speaker 2: was a National Party leader David little Brown this morning.
2:14
Speaker 3: I think Peter Kretlin articulated very clearly last night that
2:18
Speaker 3: there is a far more nuanced for response than what
2:21
Speaker 3: John Howd has there.
2:23
Speaker 1: But the reality is.
2:24
Speaker 3: This, if we'd been able to have another joint party
2:27
Speaker 3: room and even a shadow cabinet to debate these and
2:32
Speaker 3: ruminate these out and to scrutinize them. I believe in
2:35
Speaker 3: a coalition, but not at any cost, not without respect,
2:40
Speaker 3: not without understanding, not being forced to vote away without
2:45
Speaker 3: with having having consequences hung over you. That's not how
2:49
Speaker 3: you operate. That's not the coalition that I've been part
2:52
Speaker 3: of for nine years. So I think it's probably a
2:55
Speaker 3: healthy thing.
2:58
Speaker 2: It gives me no pleasure to say that last night
3:01
Speaker 2: and again tonight to call out Liberals, but I am
3:04
Speaker 2: just staggered that they've so mismanaged this. Not only have
3:08
Speaker 2: they done themselves enormous damage, but they've let a weak
3:11
Speaker 2: and hyper political prime minister off the hook when it
3:14
Speaker 2: should rightly have been held accountable for his role in
3:18
Speaker 2: the circumstances that led to Bondai, for allowing you hatred
3:22
Speaker 2: de festa and metastasize into actual murder on the streets
3:27
Speaker 2: of Sydney. What are we then left with nothing less
3:32
Speaker 2: than a deeply inadequate government facing an incompetent and now
3:37
Speaker 2: warring opposition. Not only are the Liberals and Nationals unable
3:42
Speaker 2: to form government if they remain two separate parties, but
3:45
Speaker 2: they also face pressure from a renewed one nation that's
3:47
Speaker 2: peeling votes off them week by week in the published polls.
3:53
Speaker 2: As I said last night as the former shadow Cabinet
3:56
Speaker 2: secretary to three opposition leaders, here the Sabers are at fault.
4:02
Speaker 2: Not only did they not follow proper procedure on dealing
4:05
Speaker 2: with Labour's hate speech laws, and they're now trying to
4:08
Speaker 2: muddy the waters with character assassinations against the Nats, delivered anonymously,
4:13
Speaker 2: of course on background to journalists. So much of the
4:18
Speaker 2: problem goes to the fact that they never had a
4:22
Speaker 2: Joint Party Room meeting to lock in the decision of
4:27
Speaker 2: Shadow Cabinet. Now, let me restate again how they should
4:31
Speaker 2: have been handled In opposition. Legislation gets proposed by the government,
4:36
Speaker 2: of course, in this case the government's labor it first
4:39
Speaker 2: goes to Shadow Cabinet. They take a position on the legislation,
4:44
Speaker 2: but that's not a final position until it is endorsed
4:48
Speaker 2: by the Joint Party Room. It goes from Shadow Cabinet
4:51
Speaker 2: to the Joint Party Room as a recommendation, and it
4:56
Speaker 2: only becomes the formal party position when the Joint Party
5:01
Speaker 2: Room ratifies it, and the Joint Party Room meets, usually
5:06
Speaker 2: after the Liberal Party Room and the National Party Room
5:10
Speaker 2: have met separately. Now, if it's agreed, that's it. That's
5:15
Speaker 2: the decision of the Joint party room, and that's where
5:18
Speaker 2: you can hold shadow ministers effect the fire under cabinet
5:23
Speaker 2: solidarity to that decision. But if it's not agreed, or
5:29
Speaker 2: in this case a meeting's not even held, you can't
5:35
Speaker 2: force anyone to a shadow cabinet decision because the party
5:40
Speaker 2: room is sovereign. In this case, the party room of
5:42
Speaker 2: the National Party was in conflict with shadow cabinet and
5:47
Speaker 2: any party leader who tries to force MPs to vote
5:51
Speaker 2: against their party room position. In this case, again, a
5:56
Speaker 2: national party decision ends up facing leaderships. Now, unfortunately, given
6:03
Speaker 2: all the negotiations and discussions that took place in these
6:06
Speaker 2: rushed legislation debates, because the Albanezi government of course needed
6:11
Speaker 2: a political response to Bondai, all the usual orderly processes
6:16
Speaker 2: did not take place. Shadow Cabinet made a decision to
6:19
Speaker 2: support this flawed legislation which the National Party had decided
6:24
Speaker 2: to oppose, and the National Party did this. They took
6:27
Speaker 2: their decision to oppose it after many many meetings where
6:32
Speaker 2: they tried to work through the bills.
6:36
Speaker 4: Didn't have a further shadow cabinet on which to consider
6:38
Speaker 4: the final position of the coalition. We did not have
6:41
Speaker 4: a joint party room on which to actually consider that.
6:44
Speaker 4: And here not just from National Party MPs and senators
6:47
Speaker 4: who had ten party room meetings to discuss this.
6:51
Speaker 2: Over the last week. You heard that there had ten
6:56
Speaker 2: party room meetings of the National Party. Wasn't ten of
7:00
Speaker 2: the Liberals. And there wasn't at all the joint party
7:05
Speaker 2: room meeting as is normally the process. Again, I'm staggered
7:09
Speaker 2: that Susan Lee did not have that joint party room
7:12
Speaker 2: meeting after the shadow cabinet decision to change tack and
7:16
Speaker 2: back in Labour's legislation, even though there was a split
7:20
Speaker 2: in the position between the Liberals and the Nats, she
7:23
Speaker 2: pushed on anyway. Now, I am told MPs or waiting
7:27
Speaker 2: around in their offices for a joint party room meeting
7:30
Speaker 2: to be called, but she never called it. And so
7:34
Speaker 2: when National Party senators voted in line with their own
7:38
Speaker 2: party's position, they did so in accordance with established convention.
7:43
Speaker 2: The Susan leader then effectively sacked them for loyalty to
7:46
Speaker 2: their own party. That's not just against every precedent there is,
7:52
Speaker 2: but it's a massive own goal and it's a win
7:55
Speaker 2: for labor. At one level, yes, there's been a failure
7:58
Speaker 2: of process, but at a d for level, there's been
8:01
Speaker 2: a failure of leadership. National parties Senate front benches should
8:06
Speaker 2: not have to choose between supporting their party and supporting
8:10
Speaker 2: their shadow cabinet. And once they've decided to support their
8:14
Speaker 2: party and oppose a bill, their resignations should never have
8:18
Speaker 2: been accepted given the invidious position they were put in.
8:23
Speaker 2: And how could she not have known that forcing out
8:26
Speaker 2: some national party front benches for following their party line
8:30
Speaker 2: risked a walkout from all the others after all, David
8:35
Speaker 2: Little Proud says he made that very point to her crystal.
8:39
Speaker 3: Clear, where three of our senators who in shadow cabnet
8:43
Speaker 3: spots are being asked to reside On Wednesday morning, I
8:49
Speaker 3: sent those three letters that our senators are prepared, along
8:54
Speaker 3: with a fourth letter on Wednesday morning to Susan Lee,
8:58
Speaker 3: And those three letters were from those to resign their tenure.
9:02
Speaker 3: But I sent a letter advising Susan Lee that if
9:06
Speaker 3: she accepted those resignations because it would not be appropriate
9:10
Speaker 3: to considering the circumstances we had, then our entire ministry
9:14
Speaker 3: will resign.
9:17
Speaker 2: You have a little proud there. It was in writing
9:20
Speaker 2: to Susan Lee. But despite that warning, she still accepted
9:23
Speaker 2: their resignations, the resignations of the three front benches, Bridget McKenzie,
9:28
Speaker 2: Susan McDonald and Ross Cadell. Now, bizarrely, tonight she's refusing
9:35
Speaker 2: to accept the resignations of all the other Liberals, all
9:38
Speaker 2: later of them, including David Little Proud, who resigned last
9:42
Speaker 2: night after their party room met to consider this issue.
9:46
Speaker 2: She says she won't accept these extra eight resignations because
9:49
Speaker 2: she says she needs to preserve the coalition. Honestly, what
9:55
Speaker 2: a mess. In the short term, the undeserving winner out
9:59
Speaker 2: of all of this, as I've said, is the Albanezer government,
10:02
Speaker 2: because the opposition has yet again made her self the issue.
10:06
Speaker 2: In the longer term, the likely winner here is one nation,
10:10
Speaker 2: because neither the Libs nor the Nats can ever win
10:12
Speaker 2: government without being in a coalition. Tonight, that coalition relationship
10:19
Speaker 2: is dead. We're gone. Let me remove the ambiguity. We've gone.
10:25
Speaker 4: It was untenable. Our whole shadow ministry tendered their resignations
10:31
Speaker 4: in light of the leader of the Liberal Party accepting
10:36
Speaker 4: our offer to resign as.
10:38
Speaker 2: Three shadow cabinet ministers.
10:39
Speaker 4: She was aware of the consequences of her decision when
10:42
Speaker 4: she accepted our office to resign.
10:47
Speaker 2: Now, for her part, certain Lee has today ruled out
10:50
Speaker 2: speaking to the media because she says the day of
10:53
Speaker 2: morning can't be contaminated by politics, even though she's got
10:57
Speaker 2: three sacked National Party front benches and eight mon or
11:00
Speaker 2: as I said, including the leader refusing to serve. And
11:03
Speaker 2: this is not where the Liberal and National Parties should
11:06
Speaker 2: be tonight, because it's only with a strong coalition that
11:09
Speaker 2: the center right side of politics has any chance of
11:13
Speaker 2: beating this shocking Labor government. And as was shown in
11:17
Speaker 2: two thousand and eight under Brendan Nelson, it is possible
11:21
Speaker 2: to allow National Party front benches to take a different
11:24
Speaker 2: position to the Liberal Party colleagues without breaking the coalition
11:28
Speaker 2: and without destroying internal discipline. Now, why that example was
11:33
Speaker 2: not used to manage this current difference before it morphed
11:36
Speaker 2: into this fiasco is beyond me. Clearly, this mess needs
11:42
Speaker 2: sorting out, the sooner the better, otherwise this will just
11:45
Speaker 2: bleed on through the media as anonymous sources brief out
11:49
Speaker 2: their bile and egos become more entrenched, not to mention
11:52
Speaker 2: the further punishment that will come their way in the polls,
11:55
Speaker 2: as voters rightly punish them for scrapping amongst themselves, and
12:00
Speaker 2: they should be focused on the state of our country
12:02
Speaker 2: in these worrying times. It's now pretty simple. The sacked
12:09
Speaker 2: front benches must be reinstated, and if that doesn't happen,
12:13
Speaker 2: then the leaders need to go because a leader it
12:17
Speaker 2: cannot hold the team together is not worthy of the name. Well,
12:26
Speaker 2: let's go to camera for the latest sky News political
12:29
Speaker 2: reporter Ribbon Spargo.
12:30
Speaker 5: I think their relationship after scathing attacks were exchanged. David
12:35
Speaker 5: Little Proud first accused the Opposition leader of mismanaging the
12:39
Speaker 5: response to Labour's hate speech legislation.
12:42
Speaker 3: No one was prepared to serve in a Susan Lee
12:46
Speaker 3: ministry and that she has forced the coalition into an
12:49
Speaker 3: untenable position.
12:51
Speaker 5: Liberal shadow cabinet ministers are unleashing on the Nationals leader.
12:55
Speaker 5: Sources told sky News he's a pathological liar.
12:59
Speaker 1: He's paralyzed.
13:00
Speaker 5: I fear and they can never go back into coalition
13:03
Speaker 5: with the Nats with Little Proud as leader.
13:05
Speaker 6: I don't agree with those accusations against David, and I
13:10
Speaker 6: note that they're anonymous.
13:11
Speaker 5: Certainly is yet to respond. One MP who has reacted
13:14
Speaker 5: is Barnaby Joyce, the former Nationals leader and current One
13:18
Speaker 5: Nation member. The minor party is hoping to capitalize on
13:21
Speaker 5: the disunity.
13:23
Speaker 7: You basically made yourself politically irrelevant or nationalsl irrel them.
13:26
Speaker 5: The term oil is also we caning scrutiny of the government.
13:33
Speaker 2: All right, we'll pick up this issue now with my
13:34
Speaker 2: Panoska and news contributor Carlely Cats and Barnas and broadcaster
13:38
Speaker 2: Lussie Zelek. Welcome to you both. I want to pick
13:41
Speaker 2: up some comments there from Ruben about the backgrounding that's
13:44
Speaker 2: gone on from Liberals against David Little Proud. They're all
13:49
Speaker 2: speaking off the record, of course, all anonymous sources. Caraly,
13:54
Speaker 2: I think they should affront at the camera National day
13:57
Speaker 2: or morning or not, like David Little Proud, like Bridget
14:00
Speaker 2: McKenzie did, at least put their names to the criticism.
14:04
Speaker 2: I'll tell you this is what people hate about politics.
14:07
Speaker 2: And I think if she didn't want to front the camera,
14:10
Speaker 2: the very least that liberals around the country needed to
14:12
Speaker 2: see from Susan Lee was at least a statement on
14:16
Speaker 2: where the coalition stands tonight, because it's clear as far
14:20
Speaker 2: as the Nats are concerned, it's over.
14:26
Speaker 8: Exactly and look, anonymous anonymous briefings don't give anybody any confidence.
14:30
Speaker 8: But the bottom line is Peter. As you outlined earlier,
14:33
Speaker 8: the final form of the bill was not taken back
14:35
Speaker 8: and there was no joint party room held. Susan Lee
14:39
Speaker 8: has been in Parliament for twenty five years, a quarter
14:43
Speaker 8: of a century. She's failed on every count of this process,
14:47
Speaker 8: which is very simple, which most people understand. It's politics.
14:51
Speaker 1: One.
14:51
Speaker 2: I won.
14:52
Speaker 8: Now I'm going to have a whack tonight because I
14:55
Speaker 8: can't help but have a whack, and I have a
14:56
Speaker 8: whack at labor all the time. I've got to have
14:58
Speaker 8: a whack. The bottom line, Alban easy, she had a win.
15:02
Speaker 8: He caved in on the Royal Commission. He then caved
15:05
Speaker 8: in on the initial legislation. But suddenly everyone no one
15:09
Speaker 8: is talking about this national day of mourning. They're talking
15:12
Speaker 8: about her. She is not a newbie. Twenty five years
15:17
Speaker 8: in parliament. She's been a Minister for Aged Care, for Health,
15:22
Speaker 8: a myriad of portfolios aneism. She wasn't just elected within
15:26
Speaker 8: a couple of days of taking leadership. She blew up
15:29
Speaker 8: the coalition in forty eight hours and came back. She
15:32
Speaker 8: made headway in December fourteenth, and we're talking about this
15:36
Speaker 8: and I have to say, if she was here right
15:38
Speaker 8: in front of me now, I would say, what the
15:40
Speaker 8: hell are you doing. There's one statement that needs to
15:43
Speaker 8: be done tonight. After observing the minutes silent, she needs
15:47
Speaker 8: to go back and write out her resignation. She's not
15:50
Speaker 8: up to the job. She's either got people in her
15:52
Speaker 8: office that she's not listening to, or they're incompetent, or
15:57
Speaker 8: she is actually incompetent, because you know what I stilled.
16:00
Speaker 8: I don't know what she stands for after eight months.
16:03
Speaker 8: I know that she has two s's in her name.
16:05
Speaker 8: I know that she's a pilot, a grandma, a mum.
16:08
Speaker 8: She knows what it's like to have bills piling up.
16:11
Speaker 8: But she's not actually representative of what the Australian people
16:14
Speaker 8: need to be able to vote for. Albanizey didn't get in.
16:18
Speaker 8: He got in on the preferences. She is taking the
16:21
Speaker 8: coalition to a place that no one will end up
16:26
Speaker 8: voting for them, all right.
16:27
Speaker 6: She is not up to the job.
16:30
Speaker 8: When she first came to the leadership, she dumped those
16:33
Speaker 8: women from the front bench that had done great work
16:36
Speaker 8: in opposition, just Center Price, Sarah Henderson and Jane Hume.
16:42
Speaker 8: They were going great in their portfolios. They were doing
16:44
Speaker 8: the work that needed to be done. You've got Andrew
16:47
Speaker 8: Hasty who's gone to the back bench. Is she not
16:50
Speaker 8: self aware as to what she's doing? And I'm not
16:52
Speaker 8: being a bitch by saying it because I don't know
16:55
Speaker 8: the woman, But as I said, if she was here tonight,
16:58
Speaker 8: take a look at yourself. Susan Lee, again, no statement
17:01
Speaker 8: today on anything. Every hour that this drags on is
17:04
Speaker 8: more people that will not vote for the Coalition. You've
17:07
Speaker 8: had eight months in the job, you've had twenty five
17:10
Speaker 8: years in Parliament. You're not up to it. You need
17:12
Speaker 8: to resign. Go home tonight, write out your resignation ladder
17:15
Speaker 8: and deliver it tomorrow and stop this fiasco.
17:21
Speaker 2: Strong Lucy. I don't think there's anything there though that
17:24
Speaker 2: I would disagree with what I mean.
17:27
Speaker 6: I know the Australian opens going on now and they're
17:29
Speaker 6: having a whack on those courts in Melbourne. But I
17:32
Speaker 6: tell you what, Caroly, that was the whack we all
17:34
Speaker 6: enjoyed watching more than any tennis I've watched thus far.
17:38
Speaker 6: And who could disagree with any of them at this point.
17:40
Speaker 6: I mean, I know you referenced Andrew Hasty there we
17:43
Speaker 6: talk about Susan Lee being incompetent, but what a bitter
17:46
Speaker 6: disappointment this former Essays captain turned out to be right.
17:51
Speaker 6: A little over a week ago. We saw a lot
17:53
Speaker 6: of posturing from him saying that he would not vote
17:56
Speaker 6: positively for the bill. The hate speech laws were attacked
18:00
Speaker 6: on our democratic freedoms, and then what did we see unfold?
18:03
Speaker 6: A total flip flop and him absolutely destroying any credibility
18:08
Speaker 6: he had with the remaining Liberal loyalists. He showed moral
18:12
Speaker 6: courage in the face of the immigration debate, but when
18:15
Speaker 6: it came to this, backtracked and he politically betrayed whatever
18:20
Speaker 6: core is left within this Liberal party. I mean, you
18:23
Speaker 6: talk about it being on the way to being dead.
18:25
Speaker 6: It feels very much like this is a dead coalition
18:30
Speaker 6: and a dead Liberal party. Look at what's going on
18:33
Speaker 6: in New South Wales, Peter.
18:34
Speaker 2: I know that you've already.
18:35
Speaker 6: Discussed this at length. We've seen the conservative factions within
18:38
Speaker 6: the New South Wales Liberals already condemning this idea of
18:42
Speaker 6: gender quotas.
18:43
Speaker 2: Who is this party?
18:44
Speaker 6: What do they stand for anymore? And waiting in the
18:48
Speaker 6: wings is someone like One Nation leader Pauline Hanson. So
18:51
Speaker 6: if you want to talk about consistency, moral courage and
18:55
Speaker 6: having a principal view in politics, just take a look
18:58
Speaker 6: at her. Thirty years ago when John Howard introduce the
19:01
Speaker 6: gun buyback scheme and some of the strongest legislation in
19:04
Speaker 6: the world, which was by the way supported by Labor
19:07
Speaker 6: leader Kim Beasley and the Nationals at the time, who
19:10
Speaker 6: held a firm opposition to gun reform. Pauline Hanson. Guess
19:13
Speaker 6: what she's still talking about today, thirty years later, a
19:17
Speaker 6: strong opposition to gun reform. Her position on immigration has
19:20
Speaker 6: been unchanged, her position on energy unchanged. So there is
19:24
Speaker 6: little wonder why people are abandoning the Liberal Party specifically
19:28
Speaker 6: and going over there in droves, because you have someone
19:31
Speaker 6: that's principle, that's showing moral courage. I think this extends
19:35
Speaker 6: beyond Susan Lee. You only have to look at the
19:37
Speaker 6: ten members of the Liberal Party that voted in support
19:40
Speaker 6: of the hate speech laws to start really questioning who
19:44
Speaker 6: is steering the ship here, and unfortunately it's the moderates
19:47
Speaker 6: and a disgrace. This decline is something that needs to
19:50
Speaker 6: be studying because if I just.
19:52
Speaker 2: That point you make there, let me pick up that
19:55
Speaker 2: point you make there, and I'll bring in Carolea on
19:57
Speaker 2: this one, because I know for most of your add
19:59
Speaker 2: A Carelli, you have been part and past of the
20:04
Speaker 2: Liberal Party, close to the Liberal Party, and I have
20:07
Speaker 2: to say in your defense, you would not have enjoyed
20:09
Speaker 2: that whack. I know my audience will think it's the
20:12
Speaker 2: whack the party deserved, but that will have come from
20:14
Speaker 2: a very difficult place for you. I've got to ask
20:17
Speaker 2: you this. There is some skullduggery that's been put to
20:21
Speaker 2: me that there are moderates that are very happy with
20:24
Speaker 2: this circumstance. They don't want to be coupled even in
20:27
Speaker 2: a coalition with the National Party. They also hope that
20:30
Speaker 2: the conservatives inside the Liberal Party that they walk as well.
20:34
Speaker 2: And these they see the Liberal Party's future to somehow
20:39
Speaker 2: renegotiate a relationship or create a relationship with Teals and
20:44
Speaker 2: people like the Teals so that you eventually have a
20:47
Speaker 2: very urban based, leafing suburbs Liberal Party and that all
20:52
Speaker 2: the Conservatives can go Hey, they can go off to
20:54
Speaker 2: the National Party, or heck they can go to one nation.
20:57
Speaker 2: Do you think is a credence in that? Do you
21:00
Speaker 2: think that that's the long game for modreds?
21:04
Speaker 8: Look, it probably is, but I mean moderates are aren't
21:07
Speaker 8: going to win either. You need people have courage and conviction.
21:09
Speaker 8: I saw Tony Abbitt a couple of nights ago on
21:11
Speaker 8: your show ban There's only one Tony Abbot. There's only
21:13
Speaker 8: one John Howard.
21:15
Speaker 2: It's funny.
21:15
Speaker 8: I did mention Andrew Haste. I wasn't going to go
21:17
Speaker 8: into that. But I actually think he's a lot cleverer
21:20
Speaker 8: than people give him credit for. I think he has
21:22
Speaker 8: done this and done like a double Jeopardy thing. I
21:24
Speaker 8: actually think he's going to He's bringing on a spill.
21:28
Speaker 8: If Susan Lee doesn't resign, he's bringing on a spill.
21:31
Speaker 8: I mean, he is a very instinctive politician. Some people
21:34
Speaker 8: have it and some people don't.
21:36
Speaker 6: Apparently there's nothing clever about what he did. If you
21:39
Speaker 6: go and take a look at his social media, he's
21:41
Speaker 6: now at war with his own conception, I know, pulling
21:44
Speaker 6: down and starting to get into arguments with them. I
21:48
Speaker 6: agree that maybe there is some kind of legitimacy to that,
21:52
Speaker 6: But to actually do that to your core voted base
21:56
Speaker 6: who have supported you, who have seen you as this reformist,
22:00
Speaker 6: this poster boy and the conservative that the liberal parties
22:03
Speaker 6: have been and the voters have been crying out for,
22:06
Speaker 6: to take this party for your section, I mean, there's
22:11
Speaker 6: nothing clever about fighting with your own voters at all.
22:14
Speaker 8: Now I haven't had about it.
22:18
Speaker 2: Sorry, I'm sorry to interrupt. I've really got to wrap
22:22
Speaker 2: it up. I've got to conclude this. I'm on the
22:25
Speaker 2: clock in relation to the Opera House in a very critical,
22:28
Speaker 2: very important national event at seven o'clock. So I will
22:31
Speaker 2: leave that there both of you. Thank you, Thank you
22:33
Speaker 2: frankness and honesty and fighting spirit. Tonight. Let's go now,
22:36
Speaker 2: though to the Opera House where tonight there will be
22:39
Speaker 2: a light will Win service. It'll begin in the next hour.
22:42
Speaker 2: It'll begin at seven o'clock sharp, but of course be
22:45
Speaker 2: hosted by our own chari Markson and we as a
22:48
Speaker 2: nation then will honor the victims of the Bondli terror attack.
22:51
Speaker 2: Joining me now, Executive Council of Australian Jury co CEO
22:55
Speaker 2: Alex Rifkin, Alex, thank you, thank you for joining me
22:58
Speaker 2: on this very special I think. I say this as
23:02
Speaker 2: a non Jewish Australian who all the way through my life,
23:06
Speaker 2: but particularly over the last two years, has stood with
23:09
Speaker 2: solidarity with my Jewish neighbors and friends. I look forward
23:15
Speaker 2: to tonight to grieve with you, but I also look
23:19
Speaker 2: forward to tonight where you on behalf of all Australians
23:24
Speaker 2: reclaim the Opera House in the name of all that's
23:26
Speaker 2: good and decent and as again a positive symbol of
23:31
Speaker 2: our national unity. I think if that also comes out
23:34
Speaker 2: of tonight as well as everything else, that is a
23:37
Speaker 2: good thing.
23:40
Speaker 9: Thank you, Peter. And yes, I think the choice of
23:43
Speaker 9: venue isn't coincidental. We all know what happened here, just
23:47
Speaker 9: as the October seven horror is unfolding. We warned the
23:50
Speaker 9: time that when you have a mob of Islamist ideology
23:54
Speaker 9: chanting what they were chanting, saying that the armies of
23:57
Speaker 9: Muhammad are coming from the Jews, that are people in
23:59
Speaker 9: our societ who will take that as a cue that
24:01
Speaker 9: will act upon it. And that's exactly what we saw.
24:04
Speaker 9: People possessed of the same ideology massacring my community at
24:07
Speaker 9: pond dibeach sure at Huniker Festival. So it's symbolic and
24:11
Speaker 9: it's critical, and it's also important that today we turn
24:13
Speaker 9: a page. One month after a massacre. Any death is
24:17
Speaker 9: the end of the official morning period to the Jewish people,
24:20
Speaker 9: and we are obligated at that point to stand up,
24:22
Speaker 9: to cease our mourning, to return to our work and
24:24
Speaker 9: our community and the full enjoyment of life. And that's
24:28
Speaker 9: what we need to do. We've had a horror month.
24:30
Speaker 9: We'll never forget what happened. We'll never forget the fifteen souls,
24:33
Speaker 9: We'll never forget the hundreds of people whose lives who
24:35
Speaker 9: are upended, whose psychological trauma will be with us for
24:38
Speaker 9: a long time to come. But we have to move forward,
24:40
Speaker 9: and that means each of us taking personal responsibility and
24:44
Speaker 9: asking what we can do to lead better lives as
24:46
Speaker 9: individuals and as Australians. And we're hoping that today is
24:48
Speaker 9: the genesis of that.
24:52
Speaker 2: A good friend of mine, a Jewish man, said to
24:54
Speaker 2: me and Melbourne last night. But a lot of his
24:56
Speaker 2: friends are waiting to see if something real is going
24:59
Speaker 2: to come I'm out at this Royal Commission. If there
25:01
Speaker 2: will be genuine changes, he'll make a decision to stay
25:06
Speaker 2: in Australia. But they're talking these people, He and others
25:11
Speaker 2: are saying that if not, if it's more of the same,
25:14
Speaker 2: if it's empty words, they'll look to relocate to Israel.
25:17
Speaker 2: I know many have already. So this Royal Commission then
25:21
Speaker 2: is incredibly important, not just for the national policy, but
25:27
Speaker 2: it's important for the life choices now of individual Jewish
25:31
Speaker 2: families in Australia.
25:35
Speaker 9: Yeah, that's right. And look, for a long time before
25:37
Speaker 9: the massacre, members of the community would call me up
25:40
Speaker 9: and the totally calm minds would say to me, is
25:43
Speaker 9: it time to go or will you tell us when
25:46
Speaker 9: it is imminent? And we should depart? And it seemed
25:49
Speaker 9: crazy to think that in Australia, in our time, any
25:51
Speaker 9: community should be thinking about their exit plans. But the
25:54
Speaker 9: Jewish people carry with them a long history. We know
25:56
Speaker 9: how flicking things can turn. We know that Golden Age
26:00
Speaker 9: are often ended by acts of horror and terror visited
26:03
Speaker 9: Apol Jewish community and our history tragically is one of
26:07
Speaker 9: ups and downs, of renewal and destruction of constant wandering
26:12
Speaker 9: and so nothing can be taken for granted, and we're
26:14
Speaker 9: very conscious of that. But personally, I'm not going anywhere,
26:18
Speaker 9: and I hope that the city majority of the strange
26:20
Speaker 9: Jews understand that this is their home. We help build
26:23
Speaker 9: this country. We contributed immensity to the greatness of this
26:26
Speaker 9: country and we have to stay and fight for it
26:28
Speaker 9: because what has happened last two years has to be
26:31
Speaker 9: an aberration. It can't be who we are and we
26:33
Speaker 9: have to together correct the course. And if a large
26:35
Speaker 9: number of Jews take their enterprise and their patriotism and
26:40
Speaker 9: shift it somewhere else, Australia will be worse for it,
26:43
Speaker 9: and we can't that happen.
26:47
Speaker 2: All right, I will leave it there, alex Ido, you
26:50
Speaker 2: a man in much demand. I want you to get
26:52
Speaker 2: back to that auditorium. We'll all watch you at seven o'clock.
26:56
Speaker 2: We'll watch proceedings at seven o'clock. But thank you for
26:58
Speaker 2: joining me tonight. As I said, don't miss it tonight.
27:01
Speaker 2: The service will begin at seven here on Sky News.
27:05
Speaker 2: Just before the break, New South Wales Police have confirmed
27:07
Speaker 2: that three people, to women and a man have died
27:11
Speaker 2: at Lake Carjelico in New South Wales after it's reported
27:14
Speaker 2: a gunman opened fire New South Wales police are urging
27:17
Speaker 2: people to stay indoors around the area and reports that
27:21
Speaker 2: the gunman is on the run. I'll give you updated
27:24
Speaker 2: with the developing news as it breaks right. Coming up
27:27
Speaker 2: more in the coalition implosion, I'm going to speak to
27:31
Speaker 2: mccanavan from the NATS and Just Enterprise, who now sits
27:35
Speaker 2: in the Liberal Party room, on what it means for
27:38
Speaker 2: both in a moment talk about coming out real fears
27:46
Speaker 2: in Victoria from the brave c IFA volunteers grappling with
27:49
Speaker 2: aging equipment and a state government that simply isn't listening. First,
27:54
Speaker 2: let's go back to the coalone should split, joining me
27:56
Speaker 2: one half of the former coalition National Senator for Minister
28:00
Speaker 2: of Course, Matt Canavaan Matt welcome. I'll get into some
28:05
Speaker 2: substantive issues about the legislation in a moment. But he said,
28:09
Speaker 2: she said, you know the background briefing from liberals your
28:14
Speaker 2: side going on the record with their version of events.
28:18
Speaker 2: You and I both known each other a long time.
28:20
Speaker 2: We know how the process works. What staggers me is
28:24
Speaker 2: that the Liberal Party has one view. The National Party
28:27
Speaker 2: has a different view. They have a joint meeting of
28:31
Speaker 2: the Shadow cabin of course they take a decision that
28:33
Speaker 2: view shifts against the National Party. Why was there not
28:38
Speaker 2: then a joint party room meeting, as there always is,
28:43
Speaker 2: just thrash out the difference and resolve it.
28:49
Speaker 10: Look, Peter, I'm still scratching my head having returned home
28:53
Speaker 10: from Canberra about that very question. Look, I wasn't involved
28:58
Speaker 10: in all of those meetings. I'm not in Shadow Cabinet
29:01
Speaker 10: at the moment, so I don't know everything that transpired.
29:05
Speaker 10: What I do know is that was the past week
29:08
Speaker 10: was the first week that I have been in Canberra
29:12
Speaker 10: for parliament in an eleven and a half year senate
29:15
Speaker 10: Korea where we have not held a joint party room
29:19
Speaker 10: meeting between the Liberal and Nationals parties.
29:21
Speaker 1: So that's what we do. Every Tuesday morning.
29:23
Speaker 10: We have such a meeting when the Parliament is sitting,
29:27
Speaker 10: and the principal job of that meeting is to go
29:32
Speaker 10: through the legislation that may be up for debate that
29:35
Speaker 10: week and clear the air. If there's any issues, you
29:38
Speaker 10: have that opportunity. It's almost like a wedding, speak now
29:43
Speaker 10: or forever, hold your peace. And we got to Canber
29:47
Speaker 10: this week with some of the most important legislation that
29:50
Speaker 10: I will have passed or have been involved in in
29:53
Speaker 10: my Senate career. I think when I look back on it,
29:55
Speaker 10: there's a major fundamental changes to freedom of speech, freedom
29:58
Speaker 10: of association, the security and safety of our country. And
30:04
Speaker 10: we didn't hold a joint party a meeting to discuss
30:07
Speaker 10: the matter between Liberal and National parties.
30:08
Speaker 1: Now in the National's Party, I can speak for our party.
30:11
Speaker 10: We spent almost a whole day on Tuesday discussing this
30:14
Speaker 10: in detail, going through the bill, almost clause by clause.
30:17
Speaker 10: I just think that's our job. I read the bill
30:20
Speaker 10: when it first came out. That's my job. And there's
30:23
Speaker 10: a whole lot of commentary about politics, a whole lot
30:25
Speaker 10: of people write about it. There's a lot of people
30:28
Speaker 10: who say stuff about me with unnamed quotes. But it's
30:32
Speaker 10: just simple for me. My job is to as particularly
30:35
Speaker 10: as the Senate there is, to review and amend, change,
30:39
Speaker 10: argue against legislation that goes through the Parliament. And I
30:43
Speaker 10: felt I've done my job in the past week. I'm
30:45
Speaker 10: very proud of my National's colleagues who I think did
30:47
Speaker 10: our job. Went through that legislation we had fundamental problems
30:51
Speaker 10: with it. We made some reasonable suggestions in the Senate
30:54
Speaker 10: that did not even get time for debate. I mean
30:56
Speaker 10: the Labor Party, they controlled the Senate with the Greens,
30:59
Speaker 10: they gill a team. They stopped debate on this. We
31:01
Speaker 10: didn't even get a chance to discuss for amendments. We
31:03
Speaker 10: can get a chance to say, hey, we think this
31:05
Speaker 10: is wrong. This is why can we suggest this change.
31:09
Speaker 10: We just got an up and down vote. See you later,
31:11
Speaker 10: slam bam, thank you, ma'am. Your rights are taken away, okay,
31:15
Speaker 10: But my.
31:16
Speaker 2: Point being, if the National Party has a position that
31:18
Speaker 2: they cannot support the legislation, the Liberals change their mind,
31:22
Speaker 2: and with their numbers on Shadow Cabinet, of course that
31:24
Speaker 2: will be the majority decision. It's always then got to
31:27
Speaker 2: be ratified by either the party room sitting separately, or
31:31
Speaker 2: as is normally the case, the joint party room. If
31:34
Speaker 2: you're confirming that the first time in eleven years for you,
31:37
Speaker 2: that there was no joint party room meeting. The National
31:41
Speaker 2: Party senators can only follow the conscience of their party
31:45
Speaker 2: room where the opposition to the bill is there, right,
31:49
Speaker 2: so I can't see how they broke any convention. I
31:52
Speaker 2: think if they had not done what they had done,
31:56
Speaker 2: they would have been just as much a pillory figure
32:00
Speaker 2: inside their own party as they are now with Susan Lee.
32:05
Speaker 2: Surely her position, even the comments of your leader, is
32:10
Speaker 2: no longer tenable. Does she have to be removed before
32:14
Speaker 2: there's any chance of the coalition reforming?
32:19
Speaker 1: The leadership of the Liberal Party is a matter for
32:21
Speaker 1: the Liberal Party.
32:22
Speaker 10: But there are some consequences of the decisions that Susan
32:26
Speaker 10: Lee has made here to sack these ministers. It was
32:29
Speaker 10: just simply inevitable after doing that, that there was no
32:33
Speaker 10: longer going to be a membership.
32:35
Speaker 2: That I'll ask you another one. I'll ask you another one. Okay,
32:40
Speaker 2: I know you'll give me the line about not commenting
32:42
Speaker 2: on Liberal leadership, which you just did. But in terms
32:44
Speaker 2: of just quickly the substantive legislation, when you were briefed
32:49
Speaker 2: on the legislation by our presumed various shadow ministers, how
32:55
Speaker 2: confident were you, given you had read every page of
32:58
Speaker 2: that legislation? Confident were you that they were across the
33:03
Speaker 2: implications the changes that Labor were making to the legislation
33:07
Speaker 2: almost hour by hour.
33:11
Speaker 10: Look, there are unanswered questions, Peter, there were very simple
33:14
Speaker 10: questions put that just couldn't be answered. For example, in particular,
33:19
Speaker 10: there's a provision of this bill which says that the
33:22
Speaker 10: serious harm could be could amount to economic harm in
33:26
Speaker 10: the definition of hate crime. So you could be accused
33:28
Speaker 10: of a hate crime if you do something which is
33:29
Speaker 10: harms people economically. So I asked, well, what happens if
33:32
Speaker 10: you organize an economic boycott of a country of a
33:35
Speaker 10: country's product, so say Russia's products for invading Ukraine, And
33:39
Speaker 10: there was no answer, But it is that a hate crime?
33:41
Speaker 10: It seemingly meets the definition because you're doing so on
33:44
Speaker 10: a national basis. I mean, I organized participated in the
33:47
Speaker 10: boycott of Bulwerths a few years ago.
33:49
Speaker 1: I was very proud to do so.
33:51
Speaker 10: And I think every Australian has a right to decide
33:53
Speaker 10: what products they buy. And it just seemed ridiculous to
33:56
Speaker 10: me that we would have legislation will potentially potentially capture
34:00
Speaker 10: that kind of political response, which is perfectly legitimate. And
34:03
Speaker 10: because we couldn't get those answers, that's why the National's
34:06
Speaker 10: Party moved those amendments. All this detail has been lost now,
34:09
Speaker 10: but we move some sensible amendments to say, look, let's
34:11
Speaker 10: restrict this legislation to just groups that are advocating for
34:14
Speaker 10: excusing involved in violence.
34:17
Speaker 1: That's the issue here.
34:19
Speaker 10: But instead we now have an incredibly broad piece of
34:23
Speaker 10: legislation that is open for abuse.
34:27
Speaker 2: Well, some liberals said to me conservative liberals, of course,
34:30
Speaker 2: but they said to me that they are not confident
34:32
Speaker 2: that their people, their shadow ministers, are across the detail
34:35
Speaker 2: of the legislation, and they are gravely concerned about what
34:39
Speaker 2: went through the parliament. I note, though, they didn't have
34:42
Speaker 2: a chance to raise that because they did not have
34:45
Speaker 2: a Liberal Party meeting and they did not have a
34:47
Speaker 2: joint party room meeting, as we've confirmed. Thank you, Matt.
34:50
Speaker 2: I wish it was otherwise. That that's where we end
34:52
Speaker 2: up tonight. Well, let's go now to sealpiece. Senator So Country,
34:57
Speaker 2: Liberal Party Senator just Enterprise, who of course once sat
35:00
Speaker 2: in the National Party party room and now sits in
35:03
Speaker 2: the Liberal Party room. To center. I got to say,
35:08
Speaker 2: this looks like a massive judgment eraror on the behalf
35:11
Speaker 2: on the part of your leader, and a massive own goal.
35:17
Speaker 2: I mentioned your history here, You've sat in both party rooms. Now,
35:21
Speaker 2: how do you see things? What's your position? Can your
35:23
Speaker 2: leader survive.
35:25
Speaker 11: Look, I believe mistakes were made, absolutely, and I think
35:31
Speaker 11: leadership is judged by whether you can correct those mistakes.
35:35
Speaker 11: I think it was a huge mistake of the opposition
35:39
Speaker 11: to put pressure on the government to recall parliament and
35:44
Speaker 11: pass legislation, and I think I expressed that quite early
35:50
Speaker 11: that I felt like we needed to have a proper
35:53
Speaker 11: process to the Royal Commission. I know there were those
35:58
Speaker 11: who would argue that we needed to put measures in
36:00
Speaker 11: place immediately, but my understanding is that we have laws
36:06
Speaker 11: that address these issues already and we need to make
36:09
Speaker 11: sure that they're actually enforced. And that's a failure of
36:12
Speaker 11: leadership from the Prime Minister to have enabled that to happen.
36:15
Speaker 11: But as I said, I suppose you know, I don't
36:18
Speaker 11: think we should have recalled parliament as quickly as we did,
36:23
Speaker 11: and I think leadership is about not reacting after things
36:27
Speaker 11: have fallen apart, but about ensuring that we prevent that
36:31
Speaker 11: breakdown from occurring in the first place.
36:36
Speaker 2: I guess you're making the point that after calling for
36:38
Speaker 2: the government to bring back the parliament and have solutions,
36:42
Speaker 2: you're side Needa to have solutions of their own if
36:44
Speaker 2: they couldn't support what the government had on the table,
36:46
Speaker 2: and clearly they didn't. I think that's where the tables
36:49
Speaker 2: got turned for the government in their favor when they
36:52
Speaker 2: flicked back on to Susan Lee in the middle of
36:54
Speaker 2: the week and said, okay, well you can't support well
36:57
Speaker 2: were I've got put up what your options are and
37:00
Speaker 2: there was nothing coming from the opposition. So what happens
37:03
Speaker 2: now there's does she need to go in order for
37:06
Speaker 2: there to be any chance of a coalition or do
37:08
Speaker 2: you think that if she sat down with David Little
37:11
Speaker 2: Proud they can resolve this, you know, both characters, Well,
37:16
Speaker 2: can they work through this? Or must there be leadership change?
37:21
Speaker 11: Look, I think you know this has been this has
37:23
Speaker 11: really been a breakdown in process and I think you
37:27
Speaker 11: articulated it perfectly within your editorial last night, Peter, and
37:32
Speaker 11: I think what we need to do is return to
37:34
Speaker 11: proper consultation, proper respect between the parties, discipline between the
37:40
Speaker 11: parties when it comes to decision making, you know. But
37:44
Speaker 11: that culture can only be nurtured through leadership, you know.
37:49
Speaker 11: It's what's happened now is we've taken the heat off
37:53
Speaker 11: the government for their absolute horrible bill that they have
37:56
Speaker 11: put forward, which has.
37:58
Speaker 2: Forced you to quip before just into is she up
38:00
Speaker 2: to being a leader? Let's be blunt. You walked, Andrew
38:03
Speaker 2: Hasty walked. Now we've got eight on the National Party
38:07
Speaker 2: front bench in addition to the three she sacked. This
38:10
Speaker 2: is looking like her epitaph susanly, the woman that no
38:14
Speaker 2: one can work with. Does she need to go? Yeah?
38:17
Speaker 11: Look, this is a question for party room, you know
38:22
Speaker 11: in Australians. Australians are watching very closely. Obviously, you know,
38:27
Speaker 11: in terms of my circumstances, I think I made it
38:31
Speaker 11: very clear that obviously the leader had lost trust in me,
38:37
Speaker 11: lost faith in me, and I suppose I felt the
38:40
Speaker 11: same at that time. I don't feel like things have
38:44
Speaker 11: improved to that effect. And this is a decision for
38:48
Speaker 11: the partying room Ultimately.
38:52
Speaker 2: Well, I think the party will decide it, won't they
38:53
Speaker 2: when they're back there on the third of February. Just enterprise,
38:57
Speaker 2: thank you?
38:58
Speaker 1: All right?
38:58
Speaker 2: Coming up, volunteer far fathers in victory lives on the line,
39:02
Speaker 2: forced to deal with an aging fleet of trucks, unreliable equipment,
39:05
Speaker 2: and all they're getting from the other government is spin.
39:08
Speaker 2: That's big talk. Back now to the issues facing the
39:16
Speaker 2: country Fire Authority in Victoria, with fires already taking their
39:19
Speaker 2: toll and regional communities this season, volunteers are speaking out
39:23
Speaker 2: about the enaction of Victorian government to address an aging
39:26
Speaker 2: fleet of fire trucks and unreliable equipment. Add to that
39:30
Speaker 2: the twenty five percent drop in the number of firefighters
39:33
Speaker 2: on the front line since Labour took office, And you've
39:36
Speaker 2: got a recipe for disaster, haven't you. And this isn't
39:38
Speaker 2: retric It's deadly stuff for anyone who can recall those
39:42
Speaker 2: heart wrenching images from Linton in nineteen ninety eight where
39:46
Speaker 2: five firefighters, five volunteers from julyng West were incinerated in
39:50
Speaker 2: their own truck after they ran out of water. So
39:53
Speaker 2: how is it that almost thirty years on from that tragedy,
39:57
Speaker 2: we've got a similarly die situation for sea volunteers across
40:01
Speaker 2: the state, with increased frustration over equipment defects and a
40:06
Speaker 2: government that is enlisting on paper. The Allen government has
40:09
Speaker 2: increased funding to the CFA last year for the annual report.
40:14
Speaker 2: Have a look at that goes over a longer period
40:16
Speaker 2: and it shows that this increase, this one year increase
40:20
Speaker 2: follows years and years and years of cuts to the
40:24
Speaker 2: cuts to the service, the net effect being that over
40:26
Speaker 2: the past five years, over fifty five million dollars has
40:30
Speaker 2: been ripped away from the state's volunteer fire service. The
40:34
Speaker 2: Premier for she's denying the cuts are there, but the
40:37
Speaker 2: Indian Independent Auditor does not lie. Chris Colbert is the
40:42
Speaker 2: captain of the CFA at watch him in Western Victoria.
40:46
Speaker 2: Well in forty years experience on the front line, and
40:49
Speaker 2: he's among the brave volunteers who are speaking out. Fed
40:53
Speaker 2: up with a political spin, Chris joins me, now, welcome
40:56
Speaker 2: to the program. Chris, I had to get you on.
40:59
Speaker 2: I thought you were incredibly brave going public the other day.
41:03
Speaker 2: The premier says, there's been no cuts. You've all got
41:05
Speaker 2: it wrong and you've got everything you need. Is that right?
41:10
Speaker 7: Get Apeter and thanks you for guiding me on. But no,
41:13
Speaker 7: it's not right. CFO is an aging fleet. And as
41:18
Speaker 7: you said, the Independent report says that the CFA's funding
41:21
Speaker 7: has been declining in the last three or four or
41:23
Speaker 7: five years. She's only increased it this year because she's
41:26
Speaker 7: got an election coming up. She's trying to buy votes
41:29
Speaker 7: to say everything's raising but there's a big problem out there.
41:32
Speaker 7: It's CFA and he's got lacking their funding and therefore
41:38
Speaker 7: puts the whole state at risk when we have fires
41:40
Speaker 7: as we've had in the last couple of weeks.
41:44
Speaker 2: Give me the practical examples of the reality of what
41:48
Speaker 2: it means to fight these big fires with equipment that's
41:52
Speaker 2: just not up to speed.
41:55
Speaker 7: Well, as we all know, fighting fires is a dangerous,
41:59
Speaker 7: dangerous occupy or business when you go out there, and
42:01
Speaker 7: we're only volunteers and we hopefully rely on safe equipment.
42:07
Speaker 7: Now with an aging fleet, you never know when it's
42:10
Speaker 7: going to stand up, whether it's going to keep going
42:12
Speaker 7: or stop. I mean, the watching FIREBER eight is one
42:15
Speaker 7: of the lucky brigades in the state. We have a
42:18
Speaker 7: very new state of art fire truck. It's a couple
42:21
Speaker 7: of years old, but it still has issues with it
42:24
Speaker 7: safety issues. And at the latest fire, we're at a
42:27
Speaker 7: fire in Charlton in December eight a and we sustained
42:31
Speaker 7: an air leak and Mber burnt a nile on air
42:34
Speaker 7: hose and we sustained a small air leak and we
42:37
Speaker 7: were lucky to get off the fire grand and get
42:39
Speaker 7: it repaired. If it had been any bigger, we could
42:42
Speaker 7: have lost all our air and ended up stuck in
42:43
Speaker 7: the middle of the fire.
42:47
Speaker 2: I guess people need to think about what it's like
42:49
Speaker 2: to be driving a thirty year old car with none
42:51
Speaker 2: of the modern safety equipment, and what it's like having
42:54
Speaker 2: a state of the art, you know, this year built
42:57
Speaker 2: straight off them sort of vehicle and all the equipment
43:01
Speaker 2: that comes with it. And of course if you haven't
43:04
Speaker 2: got the trucks, then you haven't got the resources. Also,
43:07
Speaker 2: the twenty five percent drop in manpower, you haven't got
43:10
Speaker 2: enough people willing to sign on, because I think rightly so,
43:14
Speaker 2: they're worried about their lives as volunteers.
43:18
Speaker 7: Exactly. I mean we've been we're volunteers. Were don't get
43:23
Speaker 7: paid for it. We put our lives on the line.
43:25
Speaker 7: And if you're going to go out an old, thirty
43:28
Speaker 7: year old truck that hasn't got the modern equipment on
43:31
Speaker 7: it or the modern safety standards on it, you're putting
43:34
Speaker 7: your life at risk. And we can't afford to not
43:37
Speaker 7: come home to our families at the end of the day.
43:41
Speaker 2: What do you make of that story the other day
43:42
Speaker 2: in the Herald Son that the CFA head office, which
43:45
Speaker 2: is salary the employers. They're not volunteers like you. They're
43:50
Speaker 2: advertising for a new media spin doctor on a three
43:54
Speaker 2: hundred thousand dollars a year's salary. When volunteers can't get
43:59
Speaker 2: their equipment they need.
44:02
Speaker 7: Well, I might be a little bit ignorant, Peter, but
44:05
Speaker 7: what is the spin doctor? Spin doctor? Somebody? Is that
44:08
Speaker 7: someone that's there to tune bullshit into reality? Well, I'll
44:13
Speaker 7: put me up that I'll be able to do that.
44:17
Speaker 2: I think a lot of people watching the show, we
44:19
Speaker 2: think that's a pretty good wicket. Three hundred thousand dollars.
44:22
Speaker 2: When you're at the pointy end, you're actually risking your
44:25
Speaker 2: life and you do it as a volunteer.
44:30
Speaker 7: Sorry, play the keep gun.
44:32
Speaker 2: It's been no I know you're right. You're right. We've
44:34
Speaker 2: got a bit of delay because you're coming to me
44:36
Speaker 2: from birdship, which is up my way, in which you proof.
44:38
Speaker 2: So shout out to everyone in the malley, Chris. I've
44:41
Speaker 2: got to leave it there, but thank you very much
44:42
Speaker 2: for joining me tonight, and please on behalf of all
44:45
Speaker 2: of the Victorians except our Thanks for what you do,
44:47
Speaker 2: and stay safe, Chris Colbert there from watching brigade. But
44:51
Speaker 2: of course the town of bird Chips on the screen
44:53
Speaker 2: all right after break. Coalition is broken. The polls are bad,
44:56
Speaker 2: a surge of course to one nation. But there is
44:59
Speaker 2: a very interesting report. I read it aspect to the
45:02
Speaker 2: person who wrote it. This is very, very predictable. We'll
45:07
Speaker 2: talk about where it's going to go next. Welcome back
45:15
Speaker 2: Australia's political class. They dismiss the idea of a populist realignment,
45:20
Speaker 2: but voter anxiety of immigration, housing, jobs and national coesion
45:25
Speaker 2: is clearly building. Catherine Betts is a leading demographer, social
45:28
Speaker 2: researcher and co author of report from the Australian Population
45:32
Speaker 2: Research Institute which suggests that while a populous realignment is
45:37
Speaker 2: widely dismissed, most Australians support key elements of that agenda,
45:41
Speaker 2: with a rapid growth of a large temporary migrant population,
45:45
Speaker 2: worsening economic insecurity and quietly creating the conditions for a
45:50
Speaker 2: serious political backlash. Doctor Betts joins me, now I read
45:56
Speaker 2: your report, this November report very carefully. It's now very potent.
46:01
Speaker 2: We've seen the shift in the poles away from the
46:03
Speaker 2: coalition to one nation. A seismic poll on Monday, of course,
46:08
Speaker 2: and I argue in my column in The Australian and
46:11
Speaker 2: I quote your report, I argue this is not just
46:16
Speaker 2: a protest vote of Coalition voters to one nation in
46:21
Speaker 2: the polls. I say this is a real warning that
46:24
Speaker 2: unless the Coalition takes on board the people's concerns, this
46:30
Speaker 2: is going to keep happening.
46:32
Speaker 12: Well, we now have net overseas migration that is really
46:34
Speaker 12: very high. It's more than three times what it was
46:38
Speaker 12: before twenty ten. And it's just silly to say that
46:42
Speaker 12: we're catching up after the COVID blank because we just
46:47
Speaker 12: haven't had net overseas migration at this level ever before.
46:51
Speaker 12: And it's not I mean, people talk about the need
46:54
Speaker 12: to bring in skills, the need for economic growth. Yes,
46:58
Speaker 12: more people will go gross domestic product, but that doesn't
47:02
Speaker 12: mean that every individual person in Australia is getting more income.
47:09
Speaker 12: People are flatlining and the cost of housing is going
47:11
Speaker 12: through the roof.
47:12
Speaker 2: And that's driving this.
47:14
Speaker 12: Yes, yes, yes, absolutely, and yes it is the case
47:22
Speaker 12: that unemployment is not particularly high, but it's the cost
47:27
Speaker 12: of housing that is really eating into people's budgets and
47:30
Speaker 12: eating into their hopes for the future and for their children,
47:33
Speaker 12: and goodness knows, their grandchildren that it seems to be
47:37
Speaker 12: so senseless because we're not even bringing in the needed
47:40
Speaker 12: skills for housing construction. We're bringing in weight staff in.
47:48
Speaker 2: Yes, absolutely, and just on that point, because you really
47:53
Speaker 2: drill into the data in this report, I think that's
47:56
Speaker 2: what shocked me the most is for all the talk
47:58
Speaker 2: of the skilled migration program, we're bringing in sort of
48:01
Speaker 2: ten percent seven percent of tradespeople and the rest of
48:05
Speaker 2: it is basically foreign students.
48:07
Speaker 12: Well, yes, the overseas students are really big, and for
48:11
Speaker 12: a long time people would say, well, that's only temporary immigration,
48:13
Speaker 12: why should we worry about it, But they've many of them,
48:17
Speaker 12: about two thirds of them, tried to stay on and
48:19
Speaker 12: hop from visa to visa, and some of them will
48:22
Speaker 12: eventually get into the permanent intake.
48:24
Speaker 2: Because it's unusual.
48:26
Speaker 12: Today half the permanent intake margrant intake is recruited from
48:31
Speaker 12: people who are already in Australia. And you can imagine
48:34
Speaker 12: what a draw card that is for international students to
48:37
Speaker 12: pay huge fees and take their chances.
48:39
Speaker 2: And we're seeing it just quickly. I've got to go
48:41
Speaker 2: to the opera house. But we've seen around the world.
48:43
Speaker 2: We've seen this in the United States, and in the
48:45
Speaker 2: UK in particular, if we don't get immigration to a
48:49
Speaker 2: position where the people can support it, the people will
48:51
Speaker 2: vote the government out and they'll vote away from parties
48:55
Speaker 2: like the Coalition.
48:56
Speaker 12: That is certainly a real proposition, and that for a
48:59
Speaker 12: long time Labor and the Coalition, especially the Libs, have
49:04
Speaker 12: not thought it was polite to talk about these things,
49:06
Speaker 12: but really it does need to be talked about.
49:09
Speaker 2: You and I are going to keep talking because it's
49:10
Speaker 2: not going to go away. And I commend you for
49:12
Speaker 2: the report, Captain Betts, Doctor Betts, thank you my left
49:15
Speaker 2: all right. Thank you for your company tonight. Everyone. Thank
49:18
Speaker 2: you for a big week. First week back. Jesez. It
49:20
Speaker 2: didn't disappoint in terms of drama out of Cambridge, did it.
49:23
Speaker 2: That's it for me. Now up next, of course, our
49:25
Speaker 2: very special broadcast, The Light will Win, the Service to
49:29
Speaker 2: honor the victims of the Bondi terror attack, hosted by
49:32
Speaker 2: our own Jerry Markson.